Jefferson County, Texas

Jefferson County is a county in Texas, United States, on the upper Gulf Coast at the Louisiana line. It had a population of 256,526 at the 2020 census and covers 1,113 square miles (2,880 km2), of which 876 square miles are land and 236 square miles are water, centred near 29°52′N 94°08′W.

Beaumont is the county seat, and its postal code is 77701. The county has eight incorporated cities plus a large number of unincorporated communities and neighborhoods, sits in the Central time zone, and is anchored by the Golden Triangle refining district of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Port Neches.

Towns & Villages in Jefferson County

Jefferson County’s population is concentrated in eight incorporated cities — Beaumont, Port Arthur, Nederland, Groves, Port Neches, China, Nome and Bevil Oaks — with dozens of smaller unincorporated communities and Beaumont/Port Arthur neighborhoods filling the county between them. In the table below, “Unincorp.” covers both formally recognized census communities and older platted subdivisions that never incorporated.

Several names in older lists are Beaumont or Port Arthur street- and neighborhood-level labels rather than distinct settlements, and a handful of the original scraped entries could not be independently confirmed as place names at all; those are omitted here rather than repeated on faith (see notes).

ZIP Codes

• 77701–77710, 77713, 77720, 77725, 77726 — Beaumont
• 77640, 77641, 77642, 77643 — Port Arthur (also serves Sabine Pass)
• 77627 — Nederland
• 77619 — Groves
• 77651 — Port Neches
• 77613 — China
• 77629 — Nome
• 77622 — Hamshire
• 77655 — Sabine Pass

Smaller unincorporated communities such as Fannett, Amelia and Voth typically share a ZIP code with the nearest post office town rather than having their own.

Geography

Jefferson County sits on the flat Gulf Coastal Plain, laced with bayous and marsh and drained toward Sabine Lake and the Gulf of Mexico. The Neches River runs along the county’s northeastern edge before widening into Sabine Lake, and roughly a fifth of the county’s area is water — rivers, bayous, marsh and the lake itself. Rice farming and cattle pasture dominate the rural northern half, while the Beaumont–Port Arthur corridor along the Neches and Sabine-Neches Waterway is one of the densest concentrations of oil refining and petrochemical plants in the country.

The county borders Hardin County to the north, Orange County to the east, Liberty County to the northwest, Chambers County to the west, Cameron Parish, Louisiana across Sabine Lake to the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south.

Demographics

Jefferson County had 256,526 residents at the 2020 census, with Beaumont (115,282) and Port Arthur (56,039) together holding two-thirds of the county’s population. The county has the highest share of Black residents of any Texas county, alongside sizable White and Hispanic communities concentrated in the Beaumont and Port Arthur city limits. Median household income runs well below the Texas median of $75,780, reflecting decades of refinery-town wage patterns and periodic layoffs tied to the oil and gas cycle. Overall density is about 293 people per square mile of land area, but that figure masks a sharp split between the urbanized Beaumont–Port Arthur corridor and the sparsely settled rice-farming north.

Economy & Local Life

Jefferson County is the industrial core of Southeast Texas’s “Golden Triangle.” Motiva Enterprises operates the second-largest oil refinery in the United States at Port Arthur, alongside Valero’s Port Arthur refinery and a BASF/Fina petrochemical complex; Beaumont hosts its own major refining and chemical operations plus the deep-water Port of Beaumont, one of the busiest military cargo ports in the country. Lamar University in Beaumont is the county’s largest public university. Sabine Pass, at the county’s southern tip, has become a hub for liquefied natural gas export terminals built since the mid-2010s.

History

Jefferson County was created in 1836, in the early years of the Republic of Texas, having existed as a Mexican municipality since 1835; it is named for U.S. president Thomas Jefferson. The 1901 Spindletop gusher just south of Beaumont was the discovery that launched the modern Texas oil industry and drew the refining companies that still anchor the county’s economy. During the Civil War, a small Confederate garrison repelled a much larger Union invasion fleet at the Battle of Sabine Pass in September 1863, one of the lopsided Confederate victories of the war. Port Arthur is the birthplace of singer Janis Joplin.

Getting There

Interstate 10 crosses the county east–west through Beaumont, and U.S. Highway 69/96/287 and Texas 73 link Beaumont to Port Arthur, Nederland and Port Neches. Approximate distances:

• Beaumont — 20 miles northwest of Port Arthur
• Houston — 85 miles west via I-10
• Lake Charles, Louisiana — 45 miles east via I-10
• Orange — 20 miles northeast via I-10

Jack Brooks Regional Airport, near Beaumont, offers commercial jet service; Amtrak’s Sunset Limited stops at Beaumont’s downtown station.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Jefferson County, Texas?
It is on the upper Texas Gulf Coast at the Louisiana line, anchored by Beaumont and Port Arthur.

What is the population of Jefferson County?
256,526 at the 2020 census.

How big is Jefferson County?
1,113 square miles (2,880 km2), of which 236 square miles are water.

What is the county seat of Jefferson County?
Beaumont is the county seat.

How many towns are in Jefferson County?
Eight incorporated cities — Beaumont, Port Arthur, Nederland, Groves, Port Neches, China, Nome and Bevil Oaks — plus dozens of unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes are in Jefferson County?
ZIP codes range from 77613 (China) and 77619 (Groves) to 77701–77710 (Beaumont) and 77640–77643 (Port Arthur); see the ZIP Codes section above.

What is Jefferson County known for?
The 1901 Spindletop oil discovery near Beaumont, which launched the Texas oil boom and left the county home to some of the largest refineries in the United States.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Texas.